A Nelson man who sold crayfish and pāua caught on a recreational dive trip via Facebook has pleaded guilty and become one of 26 people caught illegally trading seafood in 2025, highlighting what MPI says is a serious and ongoing black-market problem.
Joshua Spooner knowingly set up a fake social media profile to sell his catch, arranging clandestine carpark and drop-off sales, before fishery officers searched his home and seized evidence.
MPI says most offenders are dealt with through education or warnings, but prosecutions are pursued in serious cases to protect vulnerable, high-value species like crayfish and to uphold the quota system, with Spooner now facing sentencing, forfeiture of property and a potentially substantial fine.
Can’t have big corporations who ship our seafood to Japan and the like, for inflated prices, done out of any business, can we? New Zealanders should get used to paying over $60-70 dollars a kg for seafood in NZ, ist only fair, right?
Yep, you nailed it.
It’s a sh*t system, catering primarily for mega corporations, disguised often as iwi BS, the rest divvied up for the highest bidders, the cut going into the coffers of the Ol’ Boys’ Club elite, and we’re not in it.
Thej call it Primary Industries because its the primary stuff they can sell.
This reminds me of “Selling England By The Pound”, an iconic yet at the same time iconoclastic album by Genesis, 1973.
Check it out and make sure you share it with your neighbours
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEE3T35C7Y8
Notably Sealord recently announced the closure of its running factory in Nelson – Malborough. 150 jobs gone off shore. Apparently not cost effective to process in NZ. Anyone who thinks NZ is not corrupt is living under a rock
It’s a good thing there are no murders, armed robberies or child molestations happening in NZ so that the police have time to crackdown on people selling food.
wtf so only big corporations can sell seafood. This is not freedom, this is slavery.